Albert Pick Hotels Corporation

There was a Purple Cow shop and a Manhattan room all with murals by Grell.  Reportedly, there was a Grell mural in the hotel lobby.  The Albert Pick Hotel Jermyn Purple Cow coffee shop was in operation from 1945 until at least 1965 when there was a big union fight to help keep it open and save the jobs.  The Jermyn was the eleventh Purple Cow shop operated by Albert Pick.  Two locations had both Purple Cow coffee and sandwich shops.

Wealthy coal operator John Jermyn built the original hotel from 1894-1896 in the Romanesque style designed by architect John A. Duckworth.  It had a famous nightclub called the Omar room, part of which under Albert Pick became the fancy Manhattan and Red Lacquer rooms.  It is believed that shortly after Albert Pick acquired rights to the building, the Purple Cow was installed at street level as shown in the pictures.  In 1948, a remodel occurred as described in the Pick Topicks magazine where the Omar room was divided so they could create the Manhattan and Red lacquer rooms.  The article notes that 1/3 of the Omar room was used to add the other two rooms.

A captured and saved mural fragment from the Hotel Jermyn, Scranton, PA.  This section is one of at least seven murals from inside the Purple Cow coffee shop c1944.  Grell also painted a mural depicting the skyline of New York City for the Manhattan Room and another mural for the hotel’s lobby.  Grell produced at least nine murals for this hotel.

First Date oil on canvas 48″ x 60″ mural fragment c1944 from the Hotel Jermyn by Grell (unsigned), private collection; from a storage building in Scranton, PA

Purple Cow murals: Typically oil on canvas covering large portions of all four to eleven wall sections or in the case of the Jermyn also above the cooking area..

Hotel Jermyn Purple Cow photo courtesy of The Lackawanna Historical Society.

sources: Albert Pick Hotels Corporation’s monthly magazine Pick Topicks, May 1948 (vol. 6, no. 5) pages 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 & 13 and cover photo of the Manhattan Room with a photo reproduction of a Grell mural; inscribed by Fredricka Grell;  Pick Topicks 1955 page 8; Black & white images are of the Hotel Jermyn Purple Cow murals compared to color images of the Hotel Durant Purple Cow salvaged murals. The Lark, Purple Cow poem and artwork by Gelett Burgess May1895.

Topicks magazine, Albert Pick Topicks, May 1948, Volume 6 Number 5; Fredricka Grell inscribed on the cover “Dear Helen, How are you? Louis painted this murals.  There is a fancy article about him inside on page 6 & 7.  Show this to Arthur & Roy (Grell’s brothers).  If they want to have one let me know.  Write soon dearest Helen.  Much love from Friedl Louis & Toby (the Grell’s dog).”  The Manhattan Room & Purple Cow shop, Hotel Jermyn, Scranton, PA

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